The fight to beat North East DVD pirates has been stepped up in a pre-Christmas blitz.

Shoppers were invited to hand in counterfeit copies as part of a nationwide amnesty and then watch them being destroyed.

And in turn The Industry Trust for Piracy Awareness gave them a genuine DVD movie in return.

Two dozen copies were put through the shredder at Gateshead's MetroCentre yesterday by shoppers who learned the shocking facts behind DVD piracy.

Lavinia Carey, director general of the British Video Association, said: "Many people still see DVD crime as harmless.

"However, we believe that as more people come to understand that organised criminals, who are drug dealers and people traffickers are involved in counterfeiting DVDs, they will wish to disassociate themselves from counterfeit products."

The blitz is aimed at shattering the illusions that DVD pirates are harmless Del Boy characters operating at markets and car boot sales, by getting across the message that many are part of organised crime groups in the UK, such as terrorists and people and drug traffickers.

"Our aim is to get the message across to parents and children alike in the run up to Christmas," said Ms Carey.

"We want people to think twice about where their money is going if they purchase a pirate DVD as a present. Shoppers are always looking for a bargain and at Christmas the pressure is really on.

"It's critical people realise that the bargain they think they will get with a pirate DVD may in fact be a poor quality copy filmed at the back of a cinema with wobbly footage, dodgy sound and none of the extras you get on genuine DVDs.

"I believe when they realise their money is going into the pockets of some very unsavoury criminals, more and more shoppers will turn their backs on these illegal products."

Around 90% of pirate DVDs are made by someone sitting at the back of a US movie theatre with a camcorder and then they are sent to the Far East and Europe.

Piracy is estimated to cost half a billion pounds a year and has a knock on effect by putting businesses at risk selling genuine DVDs.

Movies favourites such as Shrek and Spiderman have been hit by pirates. And Shrek was at the MetroCentre to join campaigners and trading standards staff in shredding the pirate DVDs.

Anyone who has any information about DVD pirate activity can report it anonymously by calling the campaign hotline (0845) 603 4567.